HANOI, June 23 (Reuters) - Copper prices advanced on Wednesday as testimony from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s chair Jerome Powell eased worries of a rate hike soon, which traders feared could dampen liquidity into financial assets including metals and hit economic recovery. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6% to $9,360 a tonne by 0516 GMT, while the most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange increased to 68,430 yuan ($10,556.93) a tonne. On Tuesday, Powell reaffirmed the central bank’s intent to encourage a “broad and inclusive” recovery of the job market, and not to raise interest rates too quickly based only on the fear of coming inflation. Last week investors fretted that the central bank could tighten its policy sooner than expected, leading to LME copper dropping 8.6%, its biggest weekly fall since March 2020. FUNDAMENTALS * China’s state reserves administration said it would publicly auction a total of 100,000 tonnes of non-ferrous metals early next month in the first round of a rare and highly anticipated release of its stockpiles. * LME nickel rose 0.8% to $17,890 a tonne, while ShFE nickel jumped 2.8% to 133,870 yuan a tonne and ShFE tin climbed 3.5% to 207,550 yuan a tonne. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or MARKETS NEWS * Stocks found a footing and swinging bond markets calmed down, with testimony from Powell providing investors with reassurance that the central bank has an eye on inflation but is not hastening to hike rates. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0715 France Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp PMI June 0730 Germany Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp PMI June 0800 EU Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp PMI June 0830 UK Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp PMI June 1200 Canada Retail Sales April 1345 US Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp PMI June 1400 US New Home Sales-Units May $1=6.4820 yuan Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi and Tom Daly; Editing by Rashmi Aich Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.